Demystifying “organic” farmed salmon: Is there such a thing?

Kelly Roebuck is the Sustainable Seafood Campaign Manager at Living Oceans Society.

(Graphic Credit: This Magazine)

What comes to mind when you think about organic certified food?

Perhaps you think of food that is better for us and the planet. Food that avoids synthetic pesticides. Livestock that are fed a 100% certified organic diet.

It seems intuitive that the same organic principles that exist for land-grown organic produce, livestock and dairy should also apply to farmed fish.

This is apparently not going to be the case.

Canadian ‘organic’ farmed salmon will soon be appearing on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus, due to the Canadian General Standards Board’s (CGSB) recent release of the Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standard, sponsored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

While some types of farm-raised seafood can meet organic principles (such as farmed shellfish), there are too few substantial differences between conventional open net-cage farmed salmon and what will be labelled as organic' to adequately protect the health of our oceans.

The organic aquaculture standard allows:

• The use of synthetic pesticides;
• The unlimited use of wild fish in feed. Since operations use substantially more wild fish in feed than farmed salmon produced, this allows farmed fish to be certified organic despite contributing to a net loss of marine protein and a drain on already strained global fish stocks;
• The unrestricted use of feed from non-organic, potentially unsustainable sources, as opposed to the 100 % organic feed requirement currently in place for all other organic livestock;
• The potentially uncontrollable spread of disease and parasites to wild fish;
• The uncontrolled disposal of fish feces into the ocean;
• Escapes of farmed fish that compete or interbreed with wild fish; and
• Entanglement, drowning deaths, and licensed killings of marine mammals.

Land-based closed containment aquaculture can greatly reduce or eliminate these environmental risks, and are more compatible with organic principles, but their use is not required by the new standard. Over 60 groups and 2,000 individuals asked the CGSB to raise the standards for farmed salmon during a public comment period. The Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Living Oceans Society and three other voting members (including organic associations), all voted ‘No’ to the new Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standard as members of the standard committee. However, the standard still passed the CGSB.

Weak aquaculture organic standards threaten the integrity of all organic labels and the products of truly organic farmers.

The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR), Conservation Council of New Brunswick and Ecology Action Centre have launched the website organicsalmon.org to provide more information on the concerns associated with the Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standard, and how shoppers can make a difference by supporting aquaculture producers who are farming more sustainably.

We recommend that you say ‘no’ to organic farmed salmon.